Prices to Pay
by gevauden
Summary: A "what if" Harry Potter story. What would happen if Ginny had been bitten by a werewolf? How will this change and effect lives? A H/G; Harry Ginny story.
1. Chapter 1: The First Price

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Not making money off of this either. Maybe if I close my eyes and wish I was jk rowling then it may happen....**

**Nope. Still myself.**

**_A/N~_**

**First story. Ever.**

**Please review, I have a low self esteem and reviews where people ask me questions and make nice comments really boost me up.**

**_~gevauden _**

CHAPTER ONE: THE FIRST PRICE

They hadn't ever been rich. Their status was only raised above others because they were pureblood wizards. The Weasley line had yet to converge with a muggleborn, and it did not seem as if it would happen quickly.

The world was becoming very scarce of the true pureblood wizards. The families that were pureblood were often powerful and infected with the idea that they were better because of their blood status. Arthur Weasley didn't put them as true. They were regarding their own words, saying that others were filthy. It was utter nonsense that the ones who were really dirtied and infested with lies were the ones saying this.

Conflict had always aroused from the red-headed wizarding family and the other families. It was mostly because of how Arthur Weasley, current leader of the Weasley clan, had such an interest in muggles and a repulsive paycheck.

It was also because they were apparently one of the most stubborn families in the wizarding world for not selling off their children to betrothal.

It was ridiculous, really. Arther and Molly had agreed and knew the best for their children was that they have the freedom to love someone. They valued their love, and knew that their children would as well. Overall it was an easy agreement and there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

The only reasons the Weasleys were even considered for this was because they were one of the oldest families.

All was well as they simply said no to all marriage requests.

Until the girl came.

When Molly Weasley announced she was going to have a girl, you could say that the family was a bit surprised.

Arther's eyes had nearly burst out of their sockets. He knew the rarities of female Weasleys.

Bill, their eldest son just seemed a bit freaked out of having another "other" in the house. However, he was indeed excited and proud to be, yet, a big brother again.

Charlie grinned widely. He was the most daring of the sons, picking up the strange magical creature from there to there, asking Molly, "Can I keep it?" Another challenge in his everyday life was something he looked forward to.

There was Percy. He smiled and nodded. He did not have that much emotion, always being the odd-duck and sticking out of most fun and dangerous activities that the Weasley men were ever so fond of participating in.

Fred and George started crying. It was almost like they knew that their world would enter a nightmare having another girl in the house. Three year olds aren't supposed to know these things though.

Little Ron Weasley just blinked, staring at the twins as they cried.

With this wonderful news there was also the terrible news to be delivered.

o*o*o*o*

Albus Dumbledore walked out of the Weasley's fireplace quietly as he headed into the kitchen. It was nighttime and far too late for the younger Weasleys to be around to interrupt the important business he needed to discuss.

Molly Weasley looked up from the dishes she was washing. "Hello Albus," she said as she looked up.

"Good evening Molly. I'm afraid we need to discuss something important regarding what you are expecting."

"Do have a seat," Molly motioned to a chair, "Now, please explain."

Dumbledore, looked at Molly as he sat down, contemplating where to begin.

"I know I am not at liberty to interfere with your family or any wizarding customs, but there is something important I must tell you regarding your expecting child."

Molly sat down, her round stomach making her sit a few inches further away from the table than she was used to.

"Are you familiar with the works of seers?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling.

Molly nodded, waiting for the headmaster to continue.

"I know a seer that was recently hired at my school because she made an important prophecy. She does not make them often, which surprised me when she made another one..." The headmaster's voice drifted off.

"It regarded your daughter."

Molly was almost afraid for the headmaster to continue as she watched him close his eyes as if to remember something. He took a piece of paper from his cloak and handed it to Molly.

_A terrible price at which the seventh born must pay if she is to keep her freedom... _

_a terrible price the fire must pay to not be extinguished... a second price already fated... one must overcome fate to avoid the last... _

_The second one who has shared fates awaits... imprisoned but will find refuge in the fire... The storm approaches..._

Dumbledore looked at Molly to see what she had to say to this.

"What... does it mean, Albus?" Molly finally managed to say after a long moment.

"Prophecies are much like another language. I have managed to see that the "seventh born" is your daughter, and "she" is also her. I am not sure about the rest, but I have somewhat an idea."

Dumbledore took a deep breath before going on the next part, "A terrible price she must pay for freedom. In all measures I am assuming she is going to be taken or someone is going to want her as a prisoner. However, she will be free. The prices will be steep as it says."

Molly thought for a moment, quietly making this all come through her mind.

"Keep an eye out Molly," Dumbledore spoke quietly as he headed to the fireplace to floo out.

Molly was lost in thought, trying to think of what the words on the paper meant and how to tell Arthur.

o*o*o*o*o

Molly smiled at her five year old daughter. She was so active and beautiful that she could not wait to see her as a young woman... although she could wait a few years for that.

Ginevra Molly Weasley was held close to her mother. She was barely five years old and already the pureblood families were pining over getting their sons to marry her. She cursed in her mind the creator of the charms that would show what the child would look like when they were older...

Her daughter was the most beautifully predicted of all of the females who were "pureblood status." Her hair was as perfect as any Weasley with just enough freckles. Her eyes were a deep brown with golden specks that were captivating. Molly was all in all a very proud mother.

"Morning, dear." Arthur called to his wife.

Molly was about to reply to him when a regal looking owl swooped in through a window and landed gracefully on a chair. It lift its leg for Arthur to take the letter off of. It glared as if it was much too regal for Arthur to touch him.

As soon as Arthur untied the letter, the bird left.

He looked at the letter, a seal that he was very reluctant to even look at was on the envelope.

"Oh dear..." Molly gasped as she recognized the Malfoy family seal.

_To Mr. Arthur Weasley_

_You should be pleased to know that your daughter has been chosen by the powerful and _

_noble Malfoy family to marry our one son and true heir. _

_Please send a letter back guaranteeing your acceptance and loyalty to the pureblood line._

_L.M._

Mrs. Weasley was already shaking her head at the letter, "Not my daughter."

Arthur nodded at her. He spoke proudly and determined, "She will have her freedom."

o*o*o*o*o

"Tell me the story one more time, mum."

Molly Weasley was tucking her daughter into bed. She was seven, becoming something of herself and making her family proud everyday.

"Mum, please?"

"Oh, alright," Mrs Weasley sighed at her precious little red-head.

"There was a boy named Harry. Harry Potter. His family was being hunted down by the most evil Dark Lord that the world has ever known. He was so evil that he had no heart, no love, and no friends. The family, the Potters, were a family full of love and joy. They were one of the most kindest in all of the wizarding world."

Molly thought back to Lily and James. She hadn't known them all that well, but enough to know they were kind and lovely.

"The mother of the little Harry was named Lily. She had the most amazing green eyes and red hair. Like ours but a bit darker. She was beautiful. James had jet black shaggy hair with glasses. He was often seen on a broom chasing a golden snitch."

Ginny braced herself for the next part. It was the worst, but also the best.

"One night the dark wizard found them. James bravely defended Harry and Lily, but he fell to the Dark Lord. Lily defended little Harry. She was so brave at that moment when she too fell. Then the dark wizard moved onto little Harry. He was so young. A year old. Just when the Dark Lord was about to strike, something happened that made him disappear. He fell to a loved child who was just a year old. He gained a lightning bolt scar on his forehead and fame. They say he saved us all. He is truly our hero."

Ginny smiled to herself as she closed her eyes, dreaming of the little boy named Harry. She thought for a moment and spoke up, "How old is he, mum?"

"Just a year older than yourself, dear."

"Is he like his father?"

Molly smiled, "I would think so. They say he had black hair that could not be tamed too."

Ginny rested her head on her pillow and snuggled into her blankets.

"Goodnight mum."

"Goodnight dear."

As her mother left, Ginny said in the tiniest whisper, "Goodnight Harry... where ever you are."

o*o*o*o*o

Three years later, on the night of August twenty-fifth, as Ginny was being tucked into bed, a creature lurked outside of The Burrow.

It was a full moon and a cloudless night. The Weasleys had went to sleep early after a good meal that Mrs Weasley made to say goodbye to Ron for his first year at Hogwarts.

The figure outside crept closer to the Burrow, testing the wards carefully.

Taking a careful step he felt a small tingle as he passed through the wards, but nothing more. His master was right, he was able to get through.

The figure went on a full sprint on all fours, going straight for the window where the prey he was searching for was.

He grabbed onto the side of the old house, climbing up without hesitation, unleashing the full beast inside.

He smashed the window, quickly going in the room.

"Ahh!" he heard a male voice. He was looking for the girl. Slowly he turned his head to the direction of the door, not hesitating to smash through it and then turn the corner. The scent of the girl was strong.

He smashed through the next door where he met a figure, "Werewolf!" it screamed.

He snarled, lashed out at the figure and sprinted out of the room, going to the next.

Hurrying, the creature smashed through the next door, ignoring the screams throughout the house. He ignored the figured that ran after him after he blasted through the room.

"Mum?!" a frightened voice asked.

He growled. It was feminine. It was his prey. He lunged at the girl just as a spell hit him from behind.

His teeth latched onto her shoulder, blood pulsing out of her. The powerful force of the spell forced him to sink his teeth in further.

The girl's cries were like they were from a different world. She screamed with the sudden force that made his own ears hurt.

"Gin!"

"Get him off of her!"

"Someone call Albus!"

"GET HIM OFF!!!!"

He felt himself being pulled off of the girl, his teeth bloody and the girl's shoulder most likely torn to the point of no recovery.

He vaguely remembered the aurors identifying him as Fenrir Greyback.

He didn't remember much after they put the veritruserum on him.

He didn't remember the long trip to Azkaban and how he watch Sirius Black as he passed his cell turn into a dog and snarl at him.

He didn't remember waking up to the worst moment of his life over and over again. He was lost in the dementors.

One thing he knew that kept him going was that he completed his job.

o*o*o*o*o

"Ginny, are you alright?"

Ginny Weasley opened her eyes. She looked up at the blank white ceiling and plain room she was being held in.

"Ginny? You're in St. Mungo's."

She tried to shift on her side to see who it was talking, but the enormous pain on her right shoulder stopped her.

"W-what happened?" She gasped through the pain.

Her mother's face appeared in her range of sight. It looked sad and quite relieved.

"We were attacked. Well you and George were anyways."

Ginny blinked, "What happened, mum?"

"It was a man who came into our house last night he was a werewolf... it seems that he was ordered by a man that does not like our family to hurt us - you."

Molly frowned at the thought that Lucius Malfoy had sent Fenrir Greyback to kill her daughter.

"You were hurt he --" Molly was cut off by the arrival of two healers.

"She is awake?" One asked Molly.

Molly nodded.

"It seems we have horrible news for you, Mrs. Weasley." The other healer spoke up.

"Your daughter was bitten by a werewolf, and therefore deep enough that the condition has also been transferred to her." The healer said hesitantly.

"Your daughter is a werewolf." The other added, as if to shape the reality of it in the least subtle way.

Molly could only stare at the healer, hoping it was not true. Hoping there had been some sort of mistake.

Ginny could only stare at her mother, hoping the same things.

Werewolves were not thought highly of at all in the wizarding world. They were frowned upon actually.

The Ministry of Magic made sure that they had tabs on all werewolves. All international trips had to be tracked. All residential homes that the werewolves stayed at had to be kept under tabs. The werewolf themselves had to be kept under tabs by giving some blood and hair for a tracking spell.

Werewolves were disregarded from the majority of the wizarding world.

The first healer, the more subtle one, frowned, "You healed faster... it's one of the..."

"Side effects." Ginny ended for her.

"We'll just give you some time to think about this. We're sorry." The second healer said as he headed out the door. The first healer ran after him with a sympathetic nod.

Molly watched them leave.

Ginny stared at her toes at the end of the bed.

"It will be alright. We'll talk to Albus. We can keep this a secret."

"What's going to happen?" Ginny asked calmly, keeping her temper inside.

"Things are going to get a whole lot harder for us," Molly managed to say as tears fell down her cheek.

Ginny only nodded.

They were like that for a while until Albus Dumbledore entered the room.

Molly lifted her gaze the old headmaster, "Hello Albus."

"Good morning Molly," the old man said.

"We have a problem, Albus."

"I have already heard. I'm sorry for this horrible fate to have been bestowed on your daughter as well."

Ginny couldn't keep it in, her temper was winning, "What do you mean horrible fate? It's going to bloody be the rest of my life!"

Molly stared at her daughter in surprise before saying, "Language, Ginevra!"

Ginny only looked down at her toes again.

"Best get used to her temper Molly. It's part of the condition," Dumbledore said.

The Weasley mother sighed before she quietly said, "It's the first price, isn't it? We denied him marriage and we paid the first price."

Ginny's latest potion was working on her and she was drifting off to sleep, unable to hear the words her mother was speaking.

"I'm afraid you are correct," The headmaster nodded.

"Can we keep this a secret from the world?" Molly asked.

"Yes, for the time being. However, people will find out. I will only do my best to ensure she does not get hurt." And with that, the great headmaster left with a twinkle in his eyes.

o*o*o*o*o

"Boys, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Molly Weasley spoke in her bravest voice and continued, "Your sister has been bitten by a werewolf. She is a werewolf."

Bill, Percy, Fred, George, and Ron all stood in the hall outside Ginny's room at St. Mungo's.

They were both shocked and full of other emotion at the same time as they heard this news.

Bill wished Charlie was there, but he knew Charlie had just gotten accepted to a job with dragons. It would be best not to miss work in his first week.

Fred's arm had healed well. It was only claws that had damaged him so he was safe from having the transferred condition.

"We'll help her, mum," Bill said weakly.

"We won't tell anyone either," Fred said.

"A Weasley secret," George added.

Molly smiled at her boys. They may have not been rich money wise, but they were indeed rich in ways that money could not make them. They had love. They cared for their sister and truly supported one another.

**_A/N~_**

**_REVIEW!!! Even if I've finished the story, I'd like you to review every chapter. Every bit that you comment on is taken in. I really do appreciate those reviews._**


	2. Chapter 2: The First Year

**Disclaimer: I own nothing... not jk rowling. I wish I was her, but deep down we all know that can't happen no matter how much I want it. **

**A/N ~**

**Damn, I'm cruel for making you guys wait two extra days. I was going to split this chapter up in two, but I figured since I was so mean I should just post it as one. You better enjoy it. :P Oh, and when I say "growled" I mean as in tough voice. I'm sure you get the gist... I could have used that way more in the next chapter so I'm unsure if this note goes here or there.**

**One last note... REVIEW! **

**They keep me going and keep my eyes on the story and not trying to make fanart for it. Trust me, it's going to get way better and make some VERY unexpected turns.**

**_~gevauden_**

CHAPTER TWO: THE FIRST YEAR

Ron Weasley and a small black haired boy went through to Platform 9 3/4.

It was strange how amazed the young boy was at the mere sight of the magic that allowed them to go through. It was as if the boy had never heard the words "magical barrier" before.

As soon as they were on the other side, the boy went to the train, leaving the Weasleys to their traditional goodbyes.

Ron said goodbye to his mother and followed after Fred and George onto the Hogwarts Express. A few minutes later he struggled to find himself a compartment, shuffling around to seek an empty one or one that was not completely full of girls.

Fred and George were already in one with some kids from his year and made it pretty clear that it was "big kids only."

He came upon a compartment with only one person in it. It was the black haired boy from the platform.

Without thinking, Ron took a deep breath and opened the door, "Hi, would you mind if I shared this compartment with you? There aren't anymore..."

The boy nodded and smiled. His hair moving as his head did to expose the scar on his forehead.

Ron's eyes widened as he spotted the lightning bolt scar. "Bloody hell, you're Harry Potter!"

The boy grinned and nodded.

"Wicked!" Ron grinned back, his eyes looking as if he won the lottery.

The boys quickly began talking about where they had been and what they had done for the past eleven years. Harry seemed reluctant to open up to Ron about the Dursleys, but it was OK since Ron seemed to enjoy one sided conversations. Ron was describing his family when it really hit the Weasley boy about Ginny.

"We're all red haired with freckles. They knew we're Weasleys because of that." Ron grinned wickedly as he opened a chocolate frog that Harry had bought for them, "Six siblings too! There's Bill, he's working in Egypt as a curse breaker. And Charlie is working at a new job in Romania with dragons!" Ron took a bite of the frog, carefully holding onto the struggling candy as it tried to escape his hand, "Percy is here... he's prefect for Gryffindor... sort of a stubborn git, but he can be a real Weasley when he tries! Fred and George are going to Hogwarts, they're twins. They like pranking. A lot. You'll notice them, don't worry."

"Then there's my sister Ginny, she's going to Hogwarts next year, she's..." Ron stopped speaking, the color in his face draining.

Just as he was going to continue with stuttered speech about how she was the youngest, the door opened and a bushy haired girl appeared, "Have any of you seen Neville's toad?"

Harry and Ron shook their heads, not knowing who Neville was. They just hadn't seen a toad.

"Has to be someone on the train..." mumbled the girl. She looked at Harry and then did a double take.

"You're Harry Potter!"

Harry nodded, rolling his eyes, "Yes I am, scar and all." He lifted the hair on his forehead as if to present the scar. The boy was very polite, but if you looked closely you could tell he hated the attention he was getting. Harry was excellent at hiding it though.

"Hermione Granger," The girl said as she put out her hand. Harry shook it, a weak smile on his face.

"I've read about you -" the girl stared and she enter the compartment to take a seat next to Ron, her words were interrupted though.

"Well, what do we have here? A weasel with friends!" A sinister voiced call from the door.

Harry glared at the boy, already forming a distinct dislike for him.

"Hmmm, hair like yours is not familiar, who are you?" the boy asked Hermione.

"Hermione Granger," she answered proudly.

"Granger... you must be a mudblood!" the boy looked at Hermione as if she was a disgusting bug. "I am Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy estate... who would you be?" Draco asked Harry.

"Harry Potter."

Draco's eyes bugged out of his head. It was as if Harry said that he was really Albus Dumbledore in disguise.

"Oi! Weasley!" Draco called, looking like he had an evil glint in his eyes.

A blond haired boy and two giants of first years flanked him, "How's your dear sister?"

Ron glared at the boy, praying he would say no more.

"I hear she needed to be taken to St. Mungo's Creature Hospital."

Harry and Hermione looked at Ron, confused and curious. Ron gave Draco daggers, "Shut up."

"Now that she's half dog it's not too bad though, right?"

"Stop it!" Ron growled.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked in a confused tone.

"Oh, she doesn't know? I suppose your other little friend doesn't know either..."

Harry looked at Malfoy curiously, nothing he said seemed to make sense.

"His little sister just got bit by a werewolf. She's a halfbreed!" Malfoy snickered.

"Get out of here!" Ron said, his fist clenched.

"Weasley's sister is a werewolf!" Draco chanted over and over again, watching Ron get up from his seat, ready to take a whack at him. Before he could, two fists came at Draco from behind.

"Bloody," Fred started.

"Idiot," George ended.

"You best get your school robes on, we're almost there." The girl stated as she left the compartment. She didn't stop to tell them that attacking another student was against the rules as she wanted to. Hermione thought Malfoy deserved it.

o*o*o*o*o

Ginny got home on September second. She was unable to go to King's Cross to say goodbye to her siblings the day before because of the many forms she needed to sign at the Ministry.

She was frustrated and upset. Her life had taken a horrible turn.

Going to her room she opened the knob only to lash away at the touch of it. Her hand had stung where the Ministry worker had cut it so they could make a tracking charm out of it. The worker did not care that she screamed in agony as the silver cut across her flesh, burning like fire. It was an open wound that would be a scar, for the worker had cut it with silver.

Ginny was treated like an animal.

She opened the door with her other hand and sat down on the floor, her head in her hands.

Ginny cried. She didn't like crying. As the youngest sibling, and being the only girl sibling, there had always been the point where showing weakness never helped.

Bill had heard her from the kitchen. He was staying a few days to make sure Ginny would be alright before a man that Dumbledore had promised was to come. The man would help Ginny. However, at the moment that was his job. He went to her room to find a small figure crying. Her back was to him and she made no movement to say that she heard him.

"I heard you," Ginny said as if reading his mind, "It's an extra side effect. Improved hearing. Like a dog's hearing." Her voice was harsh, full of anger and pain.

"Gin, it's going to be alright. Nothing's going to change. You'll always be my favorite little sister." Bill sat down next to her and put a hand on her good shoulder, knowing that the shoulder that Fenrir bit was still sore and probably would never heal. The cuts would never go away.

Ginny turned to give Bill a one armed hug as she cried into his chest, "Life isn't fair!"

Bill smiled weakly at his little sister before pulling her closer. The eldest Weasley knew Ginny's life had changed for the worst. He also realized that reality wasn't always great. Bill could only hope that his family would figure that out too.

o*o*o*o*o

"Eat up Ginny, you need to eat to stay healthy."

Molly Weasley frowned at her daughter. The always happy and active daughter she had two weeks ago was gone and nowhere to be found.

Ginny's self esteem and mind had taken a horrible blow from her new condition.

The changes were not things you could see, unless being upset counted. Ginny knew of all of the hidden changes.

She was constantly angry. Her vision, hearing, and smelling had improved. Ginny's appetite had changes when she was angry. And the as the days got closer to the full moon, she seemed angrier. As her body got used to her condition she would be able to control her temper, but for now it was a raging wildfire.

Ginny also didn't care for many veggitables as she had before she was bitten. She craved meat. It was another side effect that made her feel like a pig.

A figure stepped out of the fireplace at the Burrow followed by another one.

Dumbledore stepped towards Ginny before speaking.

"Ms Weasley, I would like you to meet Remus Lupin."

o*o*o*o*o

Ginny had gotten to know Remus quite well.

He was a werewolf as well. He had been for a while now and knew a lot about the condition and the pros and cons.

He was also her idol.

For the first few days they just talked about the condition itself. They talked about the changes in their lives and how strange it was.

They also talked about how they got their Lycanthropy.

Remus had been bitten when he was just a child. He was wandering in a field on a full moon one night and suddenly he was bitten.

Ginny was proud to know that Remus was bitten by the same werewolf as her. It felt like a brother and sister connection if you thought about it enough. Having to cope with the condition by herself would have been horrible, but having Remus to help her was much better.

One day they were in Remus's apartment. It was a old place that he lived in. Full of dust and torn furniture. Most likely from the years where Remus had been a werewolf and had torn the furniture as if it was his prey.

He was explaining to Ginny about what happened on the full moon.

"You can feel it coming. It seems like ages, but it comes in a matter of seconds. You feel pain. It's the worst part. Then you go through the two steps. You grow fur and turn into something you are not is the first step. The second is the takeover. It's what allows you remain yourself and what takes away your freedom and become taken over by the wolf," Remus hesitated at the next part, "If you do not get away, far away from humans at that point, you could just turn on the ones you love most."

Ginny stared at Remus. She feared the next full moon, as she knew it would not be a peaceful night for her.

"Where do I go?"

"Well, that's simple. You can go where I went when I was a little older than you," Remus smiled.

"Where is that?"

"It's a place by humans, but the building is so well guarded it's certainly the one place you will never hurt anyone."

"Where?" Ginny asked again.

"Hogwarts."

o*o*o*o*o

The full moon came. It came fast.

Remus and Ginny sat in front of the great castle. Waiting patiently. Ginny was nervous and shaking. She didn't know what to expect other than pain.

Finally, the when the moon had shown at its brightest point, it began.

The first thing Ginny could recall was that she heard screaming. She turn to see that it was not Remus, but herself.

He looked concerned as he was suddenly taken over by a different form.

Ginny felt herself change. She grew fur everywhere. She could feel her tail as a stub on her backside. Ginny felt her senses heighten and the full transformation take place.

The pain was the first and last thing she knew. It was like being stabbed by knives constantly. It was like having invisible hands stretch her for to impossible measures. It was like diving underwater and then being drowned mercilessly when she needed to come up for air.

Part two was coming. She could feel it coming. It was almost like a rush of emotion flooding over the pain. And then everything she did was lost over by the animal instincts inside of her.

o*o*o

Remus watched the girl go by through the transformation. He was able to remember all he did through his transformation and as a werewolf, but was not able to control himself. It was more like someone else was controlling him and that he was just there to watch. Just to remember his time as a werewolf was something that had taken him many years. It was all part of breaking through step two of the changes. Slowly. Things like that couldn't be rush.

He looked at the small red werewolf in front of him. The brown eyes that Ginny owned were still there. Ginny was inside there somewhere. She suddenly stared at him with intensity, as if giving him a message. Ginny went into a full sprint. Remus was happy that his wolf instincts made him follow. He continued as they both entered the Forbidden Forest.

It would be a long night, but at least, since the time of Prongs, Moony, Padfoot, and Wormtail, he had a companion to go through with this with.

o*o*o*o*o

Ginny opened her eyes. She was lying in her bed. Her body ached and he mind didn't want to agree with the thought of getting up.

She had made it through her first full moon. It was a start.

There was a knock on the window and Ginny mumbled something. After a few more minutes she finally got up and opened the window to find an owl.

Ginny took the letter and gave the owl a few treats from the container on her nightstand. She carefully opened the letter, her mind waking up slowly as she did so.

_Dear Gin,_

_Hope you're OK. It's been a long few weeks here, and I'm sorry I didn't write sooner._

_You wouldn't believe who I met and who is my dorm mate in Gryffindor... Harry Potter. He's pretty cool. Brilliant that I'm one of his only friends and he doesn't know a thing about the wizarding world. We have flying lessons soon. I hope I can amaze the class like Charlie did on a broom. _

_It's been quite the year so far. I'm not sure if I can take a whole year, or seven of them, mind you, with Professor Snape taking house points away from us Gryffindors for breathing too loudly._

_Full moon last night. I hope you were alright for it. Turning into a werewolf sounds horrible._

_Best wishes,_

_Ron_

Ginny smiled and closed the letter. She placed it on her nightstand and went back to bed. She didn't feel like she could get up again, as she was drained of much of her energy from the transformation the night before. Writing back could wait.

o*o*o*o*o

"Hello Ginny, good morning Mrs. Weasley," a polite Remus Lupin said as he entered the Burrow through the fireplace.

Ginny was eating breakfast and her mother was reading the Daily Prophet. On the cover was news about a break in at Gringotts.

Molly looked up from her paper and smiled at Remus before ushering him down to take a seat and dig in to breakfast.

"Disturbing news, isn't it? The goblins have never let anyone past them in a lifetime," Remus said as he took a seat and reached for some bacon.

"Yes, you could say that. What's even stranger is that a few days ago Hagrid said he needed to get something from that vault, then stuttered away saying he shouldn't have said that and nonsense," said Molly, her eyes skimming the page she was on.

"I got a letter from Ron the other day," Ginny said.

"Oh? What did he say?" asked Molly as she set the paper down and gave her full attention to her daughter.

"Well, he's got a very nice friend and they're starting flying soon," said Ginny as she took a bite of eggs.

"What's his friend's name?" Molly asked as she poured herself some tea and took a sip.

"Harry. His friend's name is Harry," Ginny replied quite quickly. She knew her mother would give her hell for it being her old crush being her brother's best friend.

"Ginny, would you like to come over my friend's house today? He owns a wonderful library and is bound to have some interesting information on controlling the transformation," Remus offered.

Ginny nodded quickly, happy to be given something to do other than de-gnome the garden for the day.

As soon as Ginny finished breakfast, Remus and her headed to the fireplace.

"Oh, read this," Remus said as he took out a worn piece of paper.

Ginny's eyes lay on the words of the paper; _12 Grimmauld Place_, and she nodded, understanding that the only way to get to their destination by floo was that if she knew where it was. Why he didn't just tell her, she didn't know, but she figured it didn't matter as long as she got there successfully.

Remus stepped in the fireplace and took a pinch of floo powder, "12 Grimmauld Place." And he disappeared into green flames.

Ginny took a pinch of powder and did the same. Flames engulfed her quickly and the sensation of traveling by floo suddenly came upon her.

She entered an old living room. It looked as if it hadn't been touched in years. Dust was heavy on the floor and furniture.

Remus smiled as she entered, "Welcome to my friend's old house."

Ginny grinned and followed as Remus walked into a hallway toward two large black doors encased in dust. The colors of the house were mostly black, but seemed to welcome the many snake decorations and green wallpaper in some rooms.

"Remus, who was your friend? Were they a Slytherin?" Ginny asked carefully, as not to offend his friend for being a Slytherin if he was one.

"Oh, he wasn't. Just his family was..." Remus started, "He was a very clever Gryffindor who hasn't been here in years."

Ginny watched Remus's thoughtful look turn into a frown. "Is he.. dead?"

"No, no, no, at least I hope not. He is currently suffering a fate worst than death," Remus paused, "Ginny, what do you know about dementors?"

Ginny was looking strangely at the man by now, she had read about the creatures before, but didn't really pay attention to it, dementors where controlled by the Ministry. Why need to know more than she had to? "They are vile and horrible creatures. They make you relive your worst fears while feeding off your good memories."

Remus nodded, "My friend who owned this place... his name is not one you will like. His name was..." Ginny stared at Remus for a good minute or two before he finally finished his sentence, "Sirius Black."

Her eyes were fill with shock and wonder, "You knew him? I thought he was a ruthless old man who loved to kill?"

"Oh, yes, I knew him. There were four of us, me, Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail. I was known as Moony." Remus's face became a large smile as he continued, "They knew about my furry little problem, but embraced my friendship still. They were so kind to me. They even learned how to become an animagus so they could run with me on the full moon."

Ginny smiled at how nice his friends sounded, and realized what Remus was doing for her and himself. He was being like his friends and running with her, and she was his company, bringing back the memories.

"Padfoot was Sirius, he was a shaggy black dog... mutt really. Wormtail... Peter Pettigrew. Literally a little rat. He was killed - no, destroyed - by Sirius that terrible night that the Potters were attacked. They say his finger is all that remained," Remus sucked in a breath, "Prongs was... he was like our leader, always coming up with a crazy idea. He was James Potter. His animagus was a stag."

Ginny's eyebrows were raised in amazement of how her life was suddenly being tied to the past. Since she became a werewolf, she had given up on ever liking Harry Potter. She wouldn't get married with her condition, for it wasn't something that did not go well through well with the Ministry. So Ginny just dropped it. It was easier than she thought, and after all those years she finally let go.

"I'm sorry for you Remus. I wish there was something I could do..." Ginny sympathized.

"Oh, it's fine. You have already done a lot for me. I'm not alone anymore on the full moon for one thing," Remus grinned.

Ginny smiled and turned her attention to the large black set of double doors they were standing in front of, "To the library?"

"To the library," agreed Remus.

Ginny and Remus had gathered a great amount of books from the library with concepts they had never heard of. At the time when Sirius was not being held in Azkaban, the house had not been accessible, therefore Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail had never been able to check out the library. As well as the fact that Sirius had hated the house. Every last dust particle.

Ginny was reading over a book about werewolves when she found an interesting subject in it.

_The portion that allows "the beast," as many of the ones with the condition call it, to take over can be overcome. However, the average human does not have enough energy to overcome "the beast's" takeover. Therefore, the Wolfsbane potion, does the extra kick that allows one to have control over oneself in their werewolf form. _

_Wolfsbane, or more specifically with the type, aconitum maximum, is extremely rare and if obtained you can sell it for a fortune. It's said to only be collected in high places, therefore hard to find as well because of how similar the plant looks like other plants that are under the Wolfsbane category. However, the only one that works with the potion is the aconitum maximum._

"Remus, come over here for a second," Ginny muttered as she placed the book to where Remus could easily read it, "Ever hear about that before?"

As Moony read he was surprised and both full of joy. There could be a way out after all.

"No I haven't... perhaps we can find someone somewhere who provides this..." his eyes scanned the page for more information as he spoke.

Ginny's heart dropped as she reread the page. She wasn't rich. Her family couldn't get the money for it. "I can't afford it."

"Nonsense, I have enough money that can last me some time. And if it will get us both out of the pain of the takeover then I'll be more than willing to spend it. We only live once," Remus smiled kindly.

Ginny ran to Remus and hugged him, "Thanks so much!"

o*o*o*o*o

Dipping her quill into the ink pot, Ginny started writing back to her brother.

_Dear Ron,_

_Things are going well. The first full moon was very strange. I can't remember anything, only that I am exhausted. I appreciate you writing to me. It does mean a lot. _

_I've looked up some things and another werewolf, Remus Lupin, and I have looked up some cures. We couldn't find anything that would totally eliminate the changes that happen on the full moon, but we did seem to find something that would at least allow us to control our actions. The problem is that it is extremely rare and it has to be a certain type. Plus it costs a lot. Remus has offered to buy it for me if we can find some. I hope we do. I hate the bloody transformation already._

_Oh, and about you... How are classes? Anything interesting going on? And Harry Potter? You got lucky. What are the odds of you meeting him and becoming friends with him? Good luck on the broomsticks._

_I need to go now. Tell the twins I said hi, will you? _

_Love you,_

_Gin_

_o*o*o*o*o_

Ginny reached for the letter on the owl Ron sent. This time it held three letters.

_Gin,_

_Hope you have been getting along well now. We've been through the wickedest thing since I last wrote to you. Well, more than one really!_

_Harry, it turns out, is brilliant on a broom. Even a school broom. He made the quidditch team his first year as the seeker! We're going to win with him catching the snitch every game. Did I mention he almost outshines the Chudley Canon's seeker?_

_On Halloween there was a mountain troll in the dungeon. We don't know how it got there, but somehow it found Hermione (she's this really smart witch in our year from Gryffindor) in the girl's bathroom. We found her before it got her and I levitated its club up and dropped it on its head. We took on a fully grown troll and got house points for dumb luck (my brilliance)!_

_Really am missing the Burrow, but I could get used to Hogwarts (other than Snape making us loose points for taking notes)._

_Best wishes,_

_Ron_

Ginny was amazed that her brother took on a mountain troll. They were supposed to be huge and hard to capture even for the best aurors. She was also impressed with a first year making the team, but it didn't strike her as hard as the mountain troll did.

She moved onto the next letter from Fred and George.

_Dearest little Ginny,_

_Been doing anything that would get you into trouble lately? If so, very good! We've trained you well._

_Missed you a lot. We totally forgot about the full moon until just a few minutes ago where we wanted to know if you made it through alright. You mean a lot to us, you know. It's not like Ron's actually going to take on our tradition and prank the school, now is it?_

_We've also got a surprise for you. The next letter is it._

_Lots of mischief,_

_Gred and Forge_

Wondering what the next letter was all about, she picked it up and read it.

_Hello Ginny,_

_My name is Harry Potter. Your brothers are currently forcing me to write this (the twins), but I don't mind. I've heard a little bit about you. The first day on the train Draco Malfoy spilled out things about your... condition. I thinks it's rather cool. I've never met a werewolf before. I haven't done a lot of things in the magical world really._

_I know I wouldn't want some stranger to send a letter asking all about what it's like to be a werewolf, so I won't. _

_Ummm, sorry I couldn't make this longer. I need to go to double potions to get antagonized by a selfish man who dislikes me for having black hair and glasses._

_Harry_

Ginny scanned the letter once more.

What the hell was wrong with Fred and George?!

She was so angry at them for making him write to her. Sure, they were trying to help... but forcing her old crush to send her letter.... that was cruel. To both of them. Either way, she figured it would only be polite to write back. So she did.

_Hi Harry,_

_I'm not sure what the twins have told you about me, but most it it isn't true. Yeah, I am a werewolf. Fate is a bloody moron who thinks he can mess up my life. And Fred and George will not be getting out of this one... do pass that on for me._

_As you would find it strange for someone asking about your condition, I'm not going to ask about how it feels to have your parents killed at a young age._

_How is my brother doing? He a big git at school too? _

_The table does not set itself (at least not until I am 17!), so I must be going,_

_Ginny_

_PS: I'm going to kill you Ronald Billius Weasley if you have even spoken a word about my bedtime stories._

_o*o*o*o*o_

The next full moon came by and Ginny and Remus went to Hogwarts once again.

The red werewolf and the brown one ran through the grounds of the castle.

As the two were running, an eleven year old boy looked out the window. His name was Harry Potter. He watched the two figures as he wrote his letter to Ginny. Harry hadn't ever had a use for Hedwig, so he thought that writing to Ginny would give her a job.

He watched the smaller form turn into the Forbidden Forest, the larger one following.

Harry would ask Ginny about if she was at Hogwarts when she was a werewolf. He had noticed the two figures every full moon and wondered if it was her from time to time. The chances were more than slim. For one thing there were two werewolves, and he did not know if Ginny knew any other werewolves. Harry would ask though.

The boy quickly finished his letter and went to sleep.

o*o*o*o*o

Ginny was excited to receive her next letter from Harry.

The day after the full moon, a beautiful white owl had been tapping its beak on her window. Ginny opened the window for her let her in.

"You're very pretty," said Ginny and she stroked the snowy owl's white feathers. The owl nipped at her affectionately.

"And nice too." Ginny said taking off the letter that the owl was holding and giving her a treat.

_Ginny,_

_School has been great. It's much better than living with my muggle relatives. They don't believe in magic, even if Hagrid did give Dudley (their son who is my age), a tail._

_We won our first quidditch match. It was very fun, I love flying a broom. Well, until your Potions Master decides to jinx it. Everything ended up OK though. Have you ever flown on a broom? I know that sounds silly because you grew up around magic, but it's never too wrong to ask, right?_

_I do realize this may be a question you won't like me asking, but I have been seeing some figures outside Hogwarts every full moon, and I've been meaning to ask you if you know anything about them? There is a smaller one and a larger one who usually go into the Forbidden Forest. I didn't want to jump to any conclusions that it was or wasn't you because there were two of them._

_Best of luck until I write to you again,_

_Harry_

o*o*o*o*o

_Harry,_

_I love flying. When I was little I would sneak into the broom shed and fly for hours at night. It's an incredible free feeling you get. I sometimes still sneak out, but it's been a bit harder lately._

_Your Potions Master jinxing your broom? Tell the headmaster or someone who can do something. That's not legal as far as I know and only adds to how dangerous the sport it... not that I'm complaining or anything._

_To answer your question about the figures outside Hogwarts... That would be me and Remus Lupin. Remus is another werewolf who has been a great friend to me this past year. We go to Hogwarts because its the safest place where we won't hurt anyone. The building makes sure of that._

_Stay safe,_

_Ginny_

She didn't know why she had opened up to him like she did. It just felt nice to be able to trust someone for once. Ginny hadn't even met the boy and she trusted him immensely. Maybe it was a dog instinct to know who you could trust and who you couldn't?

o*o*o*o*o

_Ginny,_

_You know that break-in to Gringotts? Well Hagrid had to get something important from the same vault that was robbed. Ron, Hermione, and I went into the third floor corridor on accident and found a three headed dog. It was guarding a trapdoor. We think whatever was in that vault is what the dog Is guarding. _

_We also have come to think that Snape is trying to steal whatever the dog is guarding. After the troll incident Snape was limping. We think he was trying to get past the dog by using the troll as a diversion. Ron, Hermione, and I all plan to try and get past the dog and get whatever they are guarding before Snape does._

_I hope I don't die and that this is my last letter,_

_Harry_

o*o*o*o*o

_Harry,_

_WOAH! You're nuts. It's a THREE HEADED DOG. You don't just go up to three headed dogs guarding trapdoors and ask for admission in return for a juicy steak. It doesn't work like that. Maybe in the muggle world, but not here. No, I'm not going to be a bloody git and try to stop you. I'm a werewolf AND a female Weasley if you hadn't figured that out. I embrace danger. Personally, I would__ recommend music. It always works for the strange creatures we find around here. Playing them a little music makes them go to sleep in a blink of an eye._

_Be careful, Harry. I'm bored out of my mind here and writing to you is actually the only excitement in my life. Don't get yourself killed._

_Good luck you idiot,_

_Ginny_

o*o*o*o*o

The school year for her brother was nearly over.

Ginny was to go to King's Cross – public – for the first time since she went to the Ministry to have her blood taken. She could still feel the fine line of the cut where the silver had gone through her hand.

She also could tell that the bite on her shoulder had mended itself. At least the inside did. The outside was a large scar which was easily noticeable. Ginny wrapped it in a bandage so that where she was bitten close to the neck would not show.

As Ginny and her mother waited for the Weasley boys to get off the Hogwarts express, she listened to the nearby conversations. Her enhanced hearing let her hear things that you would normally need to be right next to the person saying it to hear.

As she listened to a man and woman debating on how they should travel back home – through a nearby floo or apparate – when she saw the Weasley red hair approach.

The twins smiled at the sight of her and gave her a big hug. Next was Percy, looking rather prefecty, and then there was Ron.

"How was it?" Ginny asked him, a grin on her face.

"Brilliant, you won't believe how amazing it is – wait until you see it next year!" Ron managed to say in one breath.

"Not with your adventures..." mumbled Ginny.

A dark haired boy stood next to him. He looked shy with his glasses and skinny form. Ginny eyed him, and it finally got through to Ron that she was wondering who he was.

"This is Harry," Ron said.

Harry extended a hand to Ginny. She shook it with ease, not acting at all like Fred and George expected her to; running away and sticking his elbow in butterdishes. She watched the twins hand Percy a knut.

"Hello there Harry, where are your parents?" Molly asked kindly.

Ron spoke before Harry could say anything, "Mum... he doesn't have them... he's Harry _Potter_. They died... Didn't Ginny tell you?"

"Oh," was all Mrs Weasley managed to say before a large man who very much resembled an elephant and a walrus came to take Harry away. Ginny smiled at Harry one last time before she turned away to walk with her family.

And with that, the Weasleys were going home.

**_A/N ~ Prices to Pay - Chap 2 _**

**_OOO my first hp story! What will happen?_**

**Like it? Well, if you didn't I will assure you that there is a lot of H/G interaction in the next chapter... and there should be until the end of the story. I personally hate the stories where Ginny is the little weak girl who didn't stand up for herself when Harry tried to break up with her. I'd rather have her yell at him about being a git and that he needed her. **

**Ginny's going to be a very strong and emotional girl in this story... complete with her werewolf temper and adolescents. you may find her to be OOC, but she isn't really. This is how I see her to be if she was really bitten by a werewolf, unable to stop biting the person to her left's head off with they greet her. We've only ever seen glints of her in JK's books. Enjoy this strong female with a furry little problem.**

**Oh, and the plant I used IS real. I picked it out randomly. The fact about finding it in higher places is true, but I didn't do other research. I actually think the plant is quite common in some places and doesn't look like the other types of wolfsbane Maybe I'll change it later when I'm less lazy to something that is actually rare.**

**If you do have a problem with the way I'm writing or a tip... not a "you suck" or anything like that, then I'd love for you to list it in a review. In a natural way where you're under control. I read and reply to all of them and REALLY appreciate it when someone acknowledges my work.**

**And no, I do NOT have a beta. I do the dirty work going through the document quickly and fixing smallish typos and crap. If you want to be one, contact me. I may or may pick you. I will consider you though. **

**I like down to earth people. ;)**

**_Music which inspired this chapter (lg my odd taste!)~_**

**Lost - Michael Buble (You gotta check this one out. Romantic side of the story is based off of it~ as well as Ginny's deep inside feelings... you'll understand when the later chapters are up)**

**Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes - Fall Out Boy (Honestly I'd rather you not ask, I've been working on the guitar part for too long... Nice song though if you have odd taste like me.)**

**How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty (OMG YEAH! No need to say anything else, just listen to this.)**


	3. Chapter 3: The Diary

**Disclaimer ~ I look into the Mirror of Erised and see myself as JKR. Not a reality though. :(**

**A/N ~**

**Sorry to those who wanted to beta. I just saw TheDeadPoet993's e-mail (no, it wasn't your second), and I'll get you the next chapter. I just didn't want you guys to wait too long for this one.... I've recently suffered from terrible migraines and am not online much.**

**Sorry if Gin is a bit ooc; imo she isn't. It's the werewolf crap that is really in character, but the Ginny we know is ooc. Life's so confusing.**

**Enjoy.**

**Please review. :D**

CHAPTER THREE: THE DIARY

That summer was a long a stressful one. Every full moon Remus came to accompany Ginny when the transformation occurred. She was usually in her room for a day or two after it happened. Her brothers did not bother her about anything that had to do with her condition, so she was pretty happy with that. Ginny being happy or not angry was rare for the Weasleys.

As soon as they got home Fred and George were pranked mercilessly until it wasn't even funny for them. For Ginny, the one who had set up the pranks, it was just out of anger and revenge. It had gone too far and after they discussed it with her (Ginny had glared at them and showed them her wide expanse of verbal curses), it stopped. It was still unnerving that their little sister would do such a thing though. They thought making Harry write to her would make her happy... in a way.

It really seemed like the only one she didn't scream at for the smallest things was Remus. To say that she was treating her family differently in terms of being open with them, was an understatement. Ginny didn't talk to her family nor it seemed like she trusted them as much as Remus.

Life went back to normal (other than a few obvious and unavoidable things every month) and soon her family was going to Diagon Alley to get their school robes fitted for them and buy their books from the hand-me-down section. Summer came and went faster than Ginny wanted it to. The one summer she should have been wanting to go fast, she wanted it to go slow. It was almost as if the world took a dive and Ginny was pushed into the water - expected to be ready. She wasn't though.

It was the morning they planned to go to Diagon Alley that she found Harry Potter at the breakfast table. It was also two nights after the full moon, so to say, her time of month made her extra stressed and angry at the slightest things.

She didn't see Harry at the breakfast table at first. She just sat down, nearly asleep. Her body ached and she had not shown her face the day before. It became a habit to lock herself in her room either because of how sore she was or her contemplating how much her life sucked now.

"Oh good, you're up. You alright, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Yes, just a bit sore... one bloody night takes a lot out of me," Ginny grumbled as she took her plate. That was when she noticed Harry sitting across from her.

"What's he doing here?" Ginny asked, not sure why she sounded angry.

"Your brothers picked him up this morning with the car. Speaking of your brothers... FRED, GEORGE, GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT! YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE!" Molly yelled. Ginny was sure that it could have been heard from a mile away.

A mean grin grew on Ginny's face as Ron cringed, she knew he had been part of the plan to get Harry to the Burrow.

Harry just quietly ate, not sure what to do. He looked very nervous as if he wasn't sure if it was alright to eat more bacon than eggs. Or anything.

"Hello," Harry said politely as he saw her staring at him.

Ginny had realized she was doing so and glared at him. Of course, she didn't mean to glare at him, it was her instincts and dislike for anyone to notice something before her that made her do it. It just so happened that her instincts made her look a lot meaner.

"Did I say something?" he asked, nervous and afraid looking.

Ginny watched him for a moment. She wasn't sure what made her do so, but it just happened, "Yeah, I'm a bloody werewolf! If you're going to cower in fear, do it where I can't see you!" she yelled, suddenly leaving the table and running upstairs.

Ginny had no idea what made her say that. Taking them two at a time, she flew up the stairs. Fred and George were making their way down and stared at her as she passed. Ginny gave them both glares that sent them hurrying down.

She went into her room, slamming the door as hard as she could. Ginny leaned back on the closed door and took her head in her hands. _What the bloody hell is wrong with me!? _She thought, her mind screaming a reply back to her, _You don't trust them! You can't! How can anyone understand what you have gone through?!_

That was the truth, wasn't it? No one could be trusted. No one knew the extreme pain of the full moon. No one knew how it felt to have their lives taken away from them as if someone had suddenly ripped the tablecloth from under millions of stacked up dishes. No one knew how it felt to watch all of those neat and organized dishes fall to the ground, shattering all at once.

Ginny sat down in the familiar corner of her room that she spent moping in until she her her mother's voice call her downstairs, telling her it was time to leave for Diagon Alley. She couldn't help but to notice the hint of fear in her mother's voice.

Ginny slowly walked downstairs, unsure how to approach the others. No one dared to talk to her, knowing she wasn't exactly welcoming conversation at that moment. She hadn't really welcomed it since she pranked the twins. Ginny just remained quiet and flooed over with her mother, who frowned whenever they made eye contact.

Everyone had made it though the floo successfully when Harry approached Ginny.

"I'm sorry about this morning, did I say something that offended you?" he asked nervously.

Ginny sighed, it was hard to ignore the fact that he was being so kind to her. That annoyed her. "I don't like people being scared of me, or treating me differently."

"Oh, I'm sorry if I was acting a bit odd... I mean I..." Harry began, trying not to look at the ground as he spoke.

"No. It was my fault. I was just angry... it happens after... the transformation. I can't control my actions sometimes. I just misinterpreted yours I guess... being at our house, treated as if you were one of my brothers."

Harry smiled lightly and extended a hand as he had done in King's Cross, "Friends then?"

Ginny smiled with an equally light expression; It couldn't hurt to be friends. She shook his hand, "Friends."

Ginny's mother called for them to follow her to get school supplies. She obeyed, her vision nailed to the ground as she was still embarrassed about the earlier encounter of being rude to Harry.

Once she got her robes and a wand, it was time to get books. Since the Weasleys didn't exactly have that much money, she needed to get the hand-me-downs. Unfortunately, almost all of the books were brand new and it would be hard to find discounted ones as they were best sellers.

The group entered Flourish and Blott's where a large crowd had gathered. Ginny immediately went with her mother to figure out what the crowd was all about. Harry also seemed curious and decided to follow. The others went to the hand-me-down section to hope they were lucky enough to have the new books for their classes in there.

When they got to the front of the crowd a smiling Gilderoy Lockhart was staring at Harry. Ginny hadn't realized Harry followed them and she turned around to face him, blocking Lockhart's way to go over to Harry. She spun around to see Lockhart standing right in front of her, his teeth an insanely impossible white

"Hello, my dear, please step aside. Oh! And here is a copy of my latest collection of books!" he smiled as he dropped a large amount of books inside the cauldron Ginny was carrying. She only glared at him for bringing publicity to her face. The few who knew she was a werewolf would not like to know she was in public. This would be in the Prophet tomorrow.

Harry started to back into the crowd as Lockhart walked toward him, however it was too late after he said his name. He was pushed to the front next to Lockhart. The man put an arm around Harry and mumbled into his ear, "You and I will make the front page of every paper tomorrow."

Photographers started taking pictures of the two as Lockhart put on a grin that showed his insanely white teeth while Harry seemed to be trying to get out of the man's grasp. After the photographers were done, Lockhart signed a box set of his books for Harry and they took more photos. At the moment they were finished, Harry sprinted back to Ginny, who had left the crowd and was now looking at a newer book on a shelf.

"Bet you enjoyed that, didn't you Potter?" a rather cold voice called.

Harry glared at Draco Malfoy, "No, actually I didn't."

"Just like a Potter, always looking for attention. You'll take after your parents and kill yourself to get it!" Draco sneered.

"Get away from him you bastard!" Ginny growled as she approached the two boys, taking her eyes off the book.

"Oh Potter, got yourself a girlfriend?" Malfoy taunted.

Ginny glared at Malfoy and clenched her fist, "You wouldn't like me on the full moon."

"Oh, that's right, the werewolf as a girlfriend! No one would love you."

Ginny took up her fist and without hesitation, punched Malfoy in the jaw, "I'd think you would like to be corrected that I'm not dating Harry and that I am fully aware of any laws that set me apart from the type of person you are!"

Just then a figure appeared. He was like Draco but with longer hair and a fouler look. Was that possible?! It was Lucius Malfoy, "What do we have here, Draco? Getting beaten up by a girl? And a halfbreed," Lucius said as he took one of Ginny's books from her cauldron, "Ah, still cannot afford things so you beg for the scraps from that pathetic fool Lockhart."

Ginny glared viciously at the Malfoy senior, but she kept herself calm.

"Actually, I was buying them for her, as a friend," Harry said as he watched Lucius put the book back in the cauldron. However, there was something different about the books now. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"How pathetic," Lucius stated, "Let's go Draco, we don't need to spend anymore time here with a blood traitor and a halfbreed." They both left, Draco glaring at Ginny and Harry.

Harry turned to her and smiled, "Thanks."

"He was getting on my nerves too," was all Ginny said as she went back to where her mother and family were, looking at the books in the hand-me-down section.

o*o*o*o*o

"Goodbye mum...." Ginny said as she hugged Mrs Weasley half-heartedly.

"I'll miss you, do have a good year," she replied.

Ginny took her luggage and went into the grand train, the Hogwarts Express, after her brothers.

Ginny looked around for a compartment but could not find one. It seemed like it was impossible for such a huge train to be full, but it was. She came upon the door to the compartment that Ron and his friends had been in.

"Hi Ginny," Harry said as he looked at her.

"Hi, sorry, I'm going to come in here because there isn't anymore room anywhere else..." Ginny said as she entered the compartment.

"Gin, can't you go somewhere else?" Ron pleaded.

Ginny glared at him, "No, Ron. I can't. Deal with it."

She took the empty seat next to Harry to have her eyes rest upon a girl with bushy brown hair. She had seen her at Diagon Alley, but didn't think much of it.

"My name is Hermione Granger. You must be Ginny," she said as she shook Ginny's hand.

"Yup, the one and only..." Ginny mumbled.

"I've read about werewolves before. Not much, but I do know a bit about them," Hermione started. Ginny stared at the girl as if she was a dear caught in the headlights of a speeding car. _You can't be serious. _She thought as the girl continued, "How does the transformation feel? Do you have any control over the events that happen after it? Can you remember anything?"

Ginny's eyes were glued to the floor, which as of five seconds ago, was very interesting.

"You there still?" Hermione asked.

Ginny suddenly became very angry. The side where her temper, or wolfish temper, had come to take over, "You have NO idea how it feels. It's only the pain I remember. It's like your skin moving around and every muscle you know of moving around to form something that's not meant to happen. I have no control over anything. Hell, if I were to change right now then I would kill all of you without hesitation and not remember a bloody thing!" She got up and left the compartment quickly, her face red, and her temper daring to rage on.

Ginny ran until she found a back room where some of the extra luggage was, opened the door, and slammed herself inside. She tucked her legs into her chest as she sat down on the . Tears were threatening to come.

_Stay strong._ She told herself, _You're a bloody werewolf!_

The door to the room suddenly opened and she looked up, half expecting to see two sixth years snogging each other's guts out.

It wasn't though. It was Harry.

"Ginny, are you OK?" he asked as he walked over to her form that was sitting in a corner.

"Why did you come?" she growled in a whisper.

"You were upset... and no one else came..." he started, "I had helped before... maybe I could... you know, help again..." Harry knew he hadn't really helped. It was more like he had patched things up. Either way it had worked, hadn't it?

Ginny didn't answer, her eyes were glued to the wall in front of her.

"Ginny, are you OK?" Harry repeated, looking at her.

Ginny answered honestly, "No, I don't think I am. My temper's out of control and I get angry at the simplest things."

Harry hesitated, not sure what to do. He then sat down next to her, "I know how you feel."

"How?" growled Ginny in a voice that even she was surprised with.

Despite her tone, Harry answered as calmly as ever, "When people talk about my parents. How they're dead. It makes me so angry I just loose control."

"Heh, guess that makes sense..." Ginny mumbled.

"How?" asked Harry.

"We both get angry at things that have changed our lives... things that remind us of our loss."

"I lost my parents... you lost... a normal life?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah. That's it." Ginny said, looking Harry directly in the eye, "I do talk about it calmly, you know. I can do it. It's just not with people I am I comfortable talking to about it."

"That's understandable. I just don't like talking about it. I've had a while to get used to the fact, it's just that I've woken up to the facts that an evil wizard killed them instead of a car crash."

Ginny smiled at Harry, "Thanks for coming back here after me. Sorry to be such a bother."

"It's no problem. I mean, what are friends for?" Harry smiled, standing up.

"Yeah," Ginny nodded as she too stood up.

They made their way out of the room and back into the compartment. The train soon stopped at Hogsmeade.

o*o*o*o*o

"Lovegood, Luna."

McGonagall stated as she read. It was the sorting and Ginny was nervous that somehow the hat would change its pick because of her condition.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat bellowed.

Luna went over to the Ravenclaw table as the Great Hall cheered. Except for the Slytherins. Several more students were sorted and soon it was time for Ginny to go be sorted.

"Weasley, Ginevra."

Ginny got up, glaring at her brothers for laughing at her first name. For some reason they couldn't stop from laughing whenever anyone said it. She could only wonder what was going through their boyish minds.

As the hat was placed on her head, Ginny felt an odd tingle.

"A Weasley. I do know where to put you, however part of your mind is well guarded. That sounds like some old and cunning magic you have there..."

Ginny quickly sent thoughts to the hat that were full of "I AM NOT GOING INTO SLYTERIN" and similar phrases.

"Oh, I see now, you have a special condition that guards you well..."

"I'm a freaking werewolf. I have courage and bravery for not killing myself the first bloody full moon, put me in Gryffindor!" Ginny said only loud enough for the hat to hear.

"Fine, fine, you've made your point... GRYFFINDOR!!"

Ginny smirked and went to the Gryffindor table where Harry had an empty spot next to him. She took that seat and waited for the sorting to end and Dumbledore to get the food out. No one ate like a growing Weasley!

o*o*o*o*o

Ginny had not taken out her books since she packed them, and even then she had paid no attention to them. She hadn't noticed the extra thickness of one of her Defense books and was surprised to find another book inside of it.

Ginny curiously looked at the leather book in her hands. It seemed to be a diary. What a diary was doing in one of her Defense Against the Dark Arts books, she would never know. However, it was a free diary.

Ginny studied the cover carefully. The name "Tom M Riddle" was on the front. She flipped through the pages to find them all empty.

Smiling to herself on finding a free and empty diary, she took out a quill and some ink.

Writing in a diary couldn't hurt, right?

Besides, no one in she knew who was a wizard had the last name Riddle. What was the harm of taking a diary that belonged to no one?

She started to write.

_Dear diary, _

_My name is Ginny. _

She took up her quill to get more ink. Ginny was amazed to find that the ink seemed to be absorbing into the page.

Suddenly, new words appeared. It was a neat script that read:

_Hello Ginny, I'm Tom. _

Ginny's eyes widened in amazement. She quickly wrote back.

_Are you from Hogwarts?_

She waited for the reply, which came quickly.

_I was when I was younger. This is a version of myself in this diary from when I went to Hogwarts._

Ginny hesitated before replying. Her father's words about not associating with any objects that you could see their brains rang in her head.

_It's my first year. I'm nervous; any tips?_

_Stay confident and try your best. Sometimes it's best to suck up to the teachers if you know what I mean..._

Ginny smiled at the reply. It was getting late and she needed to sleep.

_I need to go to sleep, Tom. I will talk to you tomorrow!_

With that, she closed the diary and went to sleep.

o*o*o*o*o

Ginny enjoyed writing in the diary. It was like a friend that was perfect. Tom was always there for her, taking her side on almost everything. He also helped her see different sides of things. He made her feel smart. Most of all, Ginny trusted Tom.

One night, she told him about her condition.

_Tom, I'm afraid I haven't been telling you everything..._

_What's wrong Ginny?_

_I have a small problem that I do not like to talk about._

_Everyone has secrets._

_I'm a werewolf._

Tom's reply seemed to take a bit longer than usual, but the friendly reply soon came.

_Just because you are a werewolf doesn't mean you should let it dictate your life. Enjoy your life while you can. It's something unique, even if others do oppose it, it isn't like you can help turning into a monster every full moon._

After reading what Tom had to say, Ginny felt better. Tom had given her quite a bit of hope.

o*o*o*o*o

It was the day that they were having flying lessons that Ginny felt like she really was on fire.

She had dazzled everyone with her skills that were obtained by years on crappy brooms from her own home in the dead of night. The school brooms were no problem compared to the ancient things her family owned.

It was after class that Madame Hooch called her over.

"Miss Weasley, please stay after class."

Ginny's first reaction was that she was showing off and that Hooch wanted her to stop. She stared at her shoes as she came over to the instructor.

"That was some excellent flying for a school broom."

Ginny perked up right after she heard this. She stared the professor in the eyes, hers full of bliss.

"I would like to see your skills with a quaffle." Madame Hooch said as she smiled at the young girl.

They went over to a small shed where there was a trunk that held the balls that were used in the game of quidditch. The quaffle, the bludgers, and the snitch. Madame Hooch took out the quaffle.

"Get on your broom now," she instructed.

Ginny mounted and went up a little bit, to get ready for whatever the flying instructor had for her. Suddenly the quaffle soared through the air and at Ginny. She grabbed it and tucked it under her arm instinctively, soaring to the professor.

"What next?" she asked.

"I would like you to simply throw it through the goals a few times and I'll see how you do."

Ginny nodded and took off, soaring to the goals. She threw the quaffle through a hoop and leaned forward on her broom to come off to the other side as she caught the ball. After repeating this a few times she tried a new trick where she hit the quaffle off the tail of the broom to score on each side. Ginny went back down to the awaiting flying instructor.

"Did I do well?" she asked as she got off her broom.

"Excellent! I'll have to tell Oliver Wood about you. Ever since Katie Bell broke her wrist they have been needing a new chaser."

Ginny was shocked to hear that she was going to be considered as a chaser for her house team. She only hoped she would make it.

She didn't think about her condition meaning anything to this. It was flying? Why would it matter what she was?

o*o*o*o*o

The full moon had come. It wasn't as bad as before, but it was painful.

The fact that Ginny had to wake up the next day and actually go to classes was not something she liked. Snape only gave her a harder time when she made her partner, Colin Creevy, do all the cutting of the ingredients.

Still, Ginny had made it through and that was all that mattered.

Well, she made it through with a few potions that would give her a jump start when she needed one. Thanks to Remus. He had taken them when he was in Hogwarts after a full moon. They were also the only reason he did good on his OWLs and NEWTs.

Harry and Ginny's friendship only grew as their time at Hogwarts went on. Hermione and Ron had seemed to branch off into their own routine lately, and hadn't talked to Harry much. It was after a day where he helped her with her potions essay that she told Tom about Harry.

It wasn't like she was oogling him. He was a friend, and there was nothing wrong about telling others about your friends. At one point Ginny may have though of Harry as her future husband. Things change though.

Ginny took out the diary and a quill.

_Hello Tom. _

_Hello Ginny, how was potions today? Did Snape treat you well?_

_No, same as usual, though he didn't take as many house points away._

_Small steps._

_Harry and I are going to be playing for the house team. McGonagall told me._

_Harry? You never told me about this one._

_Oh, Harry, Harry Potter. Once you get passed the fact he's famous he's pretty nice. One of my best friend, really._

_He sounds nice. What is he famous for?_

_Killing the Dark Lord._

_What Dark Lord? Sorry, he must have not been from my time._

Ginny didn't want to write the name, but saying He Who Must Not Be Named to Tom wouldn't exactly explain which Dark Lord it was.

_Voldemort._

Tom nearly took a minute to reply.

_Oh, that's nice that you are his friend. You don't seem like the person who would only befriend someone for their fame._

_Thanks Tom! I need to go now. Talk to you later._

o*o*o*o*o

"Harry I want to show you something really cool I found in one of my books," said Ginny as they sat in the Gryffindor Common Room.

Harry nodded and watched her take out an old book. No, not a book, a diary.

"Watch this," Ginny said as she started writing on a random page.

_Good evening. _She wrote.

To Harry's amazement, the ink disappeared and suddenly new words reappeared.

_Good evening Ginny._

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"I don't really know, I think it is a magical diary. The man inside of it, Tom, says he is a version of himself when he went to Hogwarts," Ginny explained.

"Can I try?" Harry asked.

"Sure." She handed him her quill.

_Hi, I am Harry, Ginny's friend._

The writing disappeared and then Tom's reply appeared.

_Hello Harry. I am Tom._

"That's wicked," Harry grinned.

"Yeah, I know!" agreed Ginny.

"It's time to go to bed... meet you here tomorrow after classes, OK?" Harry said.

"Alright."

**A/N~**

**Kind of a filler. Replies to some of the reviews so you all can see.**

**Woob10 ~ Not going to rush them into a relationship like that. I want them to be friends so I can get the story moving though.**

**psi567 ~ Lucius is not in jail because he bought his way out. Dumbledore and friends didn't try too hard to stop him because it's not like they wanted the news about Ginny on the front page of the Prophet. The news about Lucius in jail would have to mention Ginny's problem.**


	4. Chapter 4: Findings and Cliffs

**Disclaimer ~ Not mine. Still not mine... I can scribble on the covers of my Harry potter books where it says "JK ROWLING" as much as I want and put my name on top of it, but it will always belong to JK and not me.**

**A/N~**

**First of all, sorry for taking so long. I have not forgotten this fic - it was just that spring break was calling. Oh, and the cruise ship charged way too much for wifi. I changed the title several times for this chapter, and I'm still not sure about it. You might find it to be changed later on. TheDeadPoet993 has beta'd this. Thanks again for that.**

**This is a fanfic, which means things will happen in a different order, and perhaps in a different way. Please remember to review. c&c is appreciated.**

**Note: I tried to put in a bit more detail without making it boring with me describing the pretty colors of the spring flowers or the dew on the grass. I could ramble on... Tell me how I did. :)**

**_~gevauden_**

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND CLIFFS

Ginny and Harry walked into the dimly lit in the Common Room and sat down in their favorite chairs in the corner left to the fireplace. Ron and Hermione worked on a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay that had to do with the Lockhart's success rate for victories over dark creatures. Ron, it seemed, was struggling with the essay (more like whining just a bit), and Hermione was frustrated at trying to explain that Lockhart had always been successful, going on into the details. Since Ron hadn't really read the books or paid attention in class, he was clueless.

The year before, one might say that the trio from Gryffindor was inseparable. This year they hadn't really talked to Harry and Ginny directly lately. Hermione would smile and try to find some type of subject from one of Lockhart's books to talk to them all about and Ron would try to bring up quid ditch. The attempts to get everyone talking and together again were deemed useless, though. One of them would be left out or divert the conversation elsewhere. Or, in Hermione's case, only one person found the subject to be fascinating. As upsetting as that sounded to three seemingly inseparable friends, it didn't matter. They were fine with the break and no one spoke directly about it. It was one of those things that just happened and there was nothing that would stop it.

"Lockhart's a fraud," said Ginny as she watched her brother and Hermione work over their paper.

"No doubt about that one," replied Harry as he got the diary out of Ginny's bags. It was an everyday tradition for them now. They would write to Tom and discuss their day, pouring more of themselves into the diary every time they wrote. They had no reason to worry that somehow a man would come out of it and try to kill them, only to unleash a horror and "cleanse" the school of muggleborns or anyone who wasn't pureblood.

Harry took out two quills. He decided to take the thicker one so Tom knew who was writing. They had learned to do so because Tom seemed to want to know each of their personalities. They agreed distinguishing who was who wouldn't hurt.

_**Hi Tom**__; Hello Tom_

_Hello Harry, hi Ginny._

_**Defense was boring again. The idiot Lockhart made us write about his career again. **__He's a creep. Only calls on the girls in our year, even when there are only boys willing to answer questions. The girls seem too afraid. I'm serious, it's freaky._

_Lockhart sounds terrible. My Defense professor had not cared a bit what we were doing. You could say he was like your Professor Binns._

_**Binns is BORING. I don't understand how you make it through the class without falling asleep, Gin. He's the worst one of them here... other than Lockhart.**__It's my charm._

Ginny was smirking at Harry, who rolled his eyes. His eyes fell to Tom's quick reply.

_What about Snape?_

_**I stand corrected. **__I'm convinced Snape's hiding something. Dumbledore knows about how he teaches us.... __**and he does nothing.**_

Harry sighed as he looked at the clock on the Common Room wall, "I need to go; I have a detention with Snape for writing... when we were supposed to be taking notes..."

"See you Harry..." Ginny said as he picked up his things and headed to the potions room. She continued to chat with Tom about the little quirks about life until Ron interrupted her.

"Ginny, the man is a fraud isn't he?"

Ginny glared at Ron, "Sure, yeah."

"You don't sound very sure," argued Hermione, who was standing with her hands on her hips and a look of fierce determination on her face. "We can all go read his books in the library and then I will give you proof he is not a fraud!"

Ron, whose face wore the clear look of irritation scowled, "We are not going to look for 'proof' from a man who is an obvious fraud. I try enough to not read in class! I'm not wasting my free time when I could be doing something more... important."

"What could be more productive than reading so you can have a future?" retorted Hermione.

"Ginny, he's a fraud, right?" Ginny nodded, clear annoyance that they were interrupting her conversation with Tom. "Even Ginny says so! He doesn't even teach!"

"It's still early in the year, I am sure he is going to touch on more interesting subjects later," replied Hermione. You could hear the small bit of doubt laced her voice. If you were Ron, you just heard the confidence and stubbornness that seemed to pour out of her. "Isn't that right, Ginny? Don't you think so?"

Hermione shot a pitiful look to Ginny, who didn't notice it. "Whatever..." growled the young Weasley. She took the diary and went up to the girl's dorms to get some privacy and time where she wouldn't be interrupted... or her ears start bleeding from the arguments her dunce brother and the school's smartest witch presented.

o*o*o*o*o

"Some un's killed me chickens!" Hagrid cried as they entered his hut.

Ginny had been regularly visiting Hagrid with Harry, Hermione, and Ron that year. It seemed like this was the only thing the trio - and Ginny - did altogether without arguing insanely about beforehand. At least two of them were arguing.

"What happened, Hagrid?" Hermione asked, concerned for her giant friend.

"I went 'ter feed 'em 'tis morn' and I found 'em all dead!" the big man cried as he took a large towel and started wiping his tears. He was big and intimidating, but he had a fragile heart and good intentions.

"Who would have killed your chickens?" Harry asked carefully, as not to offend the half-giant in such a glass like state.

Before Hagrid was able to reply, Ron came up with his own brilliant conclusion (as usual), "I bet you Malfoy did it!"

"I dunno who did, buh' they ain't cleanin' 'der work," started Hagrid, "It looked as if they were strangled. Was nah a pretty sight' to wake up to."

"I'm sorry Hagrid," Hermione frowned.

"Maybe we can figure out who did it and tell Dumbledore, they can pay for new chickens for you," suggested Ginny, who had been exchanging looks with Harry at what to think of this mass-chicken-murder. She kept her mind sealed at the reminder in her head of earlier that morning.

Ginny has woken up, her clothes still on and with dark rims around her eyes. She didn't seem like she had any sleep at all. ...She didn't remember going to sleep the night before. What had her mostly worried was the fact, that on her robes she had small spots of blood on the sleeves and she found a few feathers lying by her bedside. Ginny pushed the thoughts aside, thinking that maybe the mattress could have a rip or tear in it. The blood... well, that could have easily been something from dinner or dirt. Yeah, red dirt. As convinced as the young Weasley could be, she had went on with the rest of her day.

Hagrid considered what Harry had said for a moment before shaking his head, "Naw, I dun need chickens 'ter make me happy. Ge'talong now, you three! Don' wan 'ter be late for classes..."

o*o*o*o*o

Harry watched the figures outside of Hogwarts. It was a full moon and Ginny and Remus were running. He almost wished he could join in on their fun instead of being cooped inside of the castle. It was tiring and annoying that he had to stay where he was. He didn't think Ginny was lucky; she was a subject of bad luck. However, every month she had an escape from reality. Whether she remembered it or not, and that is was extremely painful, there was an escape for her.

Harry's friend had managed to keep her temper intact during school hours. When it got closer to the full moon, Ginny and Harry would take out the diary and go somewhere quiet, like the lake or an empty corner, and write to Tom about everything that made them angry. Tom seemed to know the two better than Ginny's own parents. That wasn't saying much with the way Molly and Arthur Weasley had been doing their best to ignore the reality of Ginny's problem, though. Tom just was like their own place for relief. They pour their souls into the little leather book. And Harry trusted Tom completely.

o*o*o*o*o

"I don't get it!" Ginny yelled angrily, "Just because of my stupid little problem, they don't let me play on the house team!"

"That's rubbish!" Harry complained as he heard the news, "We need another great chaser and you're perfect!"

Ginny narrowed her eyes, continuing walking at the same pace to the lake. Her fists were now clenched and she did her best not to start screaming at every little thing that sucked in her life. Despite the clear and calm day, Ginny felt as if there was a thunderstorm following her.

"The first game is in a week... we can't train a chaser as good as you in a week," Harry complained. They both came to a little spot by the lake where there were some large rocks scattered about. They sat down in their usual places, both of their minds on the unfair ruling of the Quidditch position that _was_ promised to Ginny.

Ginny angrily got out the diary, "Let's talk to Tom."

Harry agreed and got out two quills from his bag. He handed Ginny a quill, who furiously scribbled in her handwriting her complaint.

_Life isn't fair Tom. __**In Ginny's case especially.**_

_What happened now?_

_**Ginny is a great Quidditch player and they aren't letting her be on the house team because she is a werewolf. **__Downright insane if you ask me. Wait until I meet them on a full moon... They'll be sorry they had ever crossed paths with me!_

_Is it a law? Last I knew werewolves were not even allowed to attend normal used to either be killed or they escape to the few places where the darker ones hid. But back to the main subject; if you are allowed to go to school, why can't you play Quidditch? It's just an extra activity._

_It's stupid, really. __**They don't treat her like she should be treated. They seem to be scared of her. **__HA! What could an eleven year old do? Err... well in my case a lot. But still, it's unfair. How am I going to have... what did McGonagall say - "have an unfair advantage over the others with your ability" - RUBBISH!_

_Many wizards fear werewolves because they can't be controlled on the full moon. When they turn into their other form there is no stopping them. Locking them up in a prison won't do anything because they can get out whenever there is a full moon._

_**I don't understand why someone would judge someone else completely differently because of one night of the month. **__It's annoying. They have to get a sample of your blood too. They cut my hand with silver the day I came out of St. Mungo's. I still have the scar._

_They purely think you are going to kill them. That you are a danger._

_Wolfsbane._

_Wolfsbane?_

_It lets us control the transformation. If they just gave us some... __**Does the Ministry know about Wolfsbane? **__I don't know._

_Life isn't always completely fair. Sometimes we must deal with things._

Ginny frowned as she showed Harry the cut on her hand from the ministry worker, "It's like you're the only one who understands, Harry. Well, understands and helps. Everyone else just tells me to deal with it."

Harry weakly smiled at her, studying her palm. The line was easily visible and reminded him of a branded item. _Werewolf brand_, he thought. He took his quill and dipped it in the ink pot and wrote again.

_**It would help if they didn't do anything in the first place.**_

o*o*o*o*o

Harry felt extra tired the next morning as he woke up. He didn't remember going to bed the day before. He was writing in the diary with Ginny and then if seemed like his mind went blank. It was probably because he was studying all the rest of the night. The studying made him forget. Yeah, too much thinking... Harry shrugged any thought of that off and got ready for breakfast.

At the same time, Ginny woke up. She as well did not remember going to bed. She felt bags under her eyes and looked into the mirror in her room to see that there were indeed bags. Ginny did a quick glamour spell to cover up the bags and descended down to the Great Hall. Her thoughts were slightly troubled and a small canine instinct told her something was wrong. That she should be wary of another pack; someone else invading her territory; her. Ginny didn't seemed to be able to interpret the rest of this instinct and hulled her body to breakfast.

"I feel like I could eat a whole pig," Ginny grumbled, still sleepy. She was not a morning person, and the feeling of little sleep from the night before gave her a new low.

"Amazingly I feel the same way," said Harry as he took his place next to her. He started to pile on scrambled eggs.

Harry looked for the bacon but couldn't find the plate. He settled his eyes on Ginny's, which looked to have a bit too much bacon for a girl her size. Harry took care of that little problem by reaching over and taking some of the bacon from her plate and putting it on his.

"Hey!" Ginny glared at him, trying to take the food back, the weak glamour spell showing her rimmed and baggy eyes for a split second.

Harry blinked, thinking he was imagining things, before he moved the plate away from her reach before she was even close to getting any, "Nope. You had too much on your plate so I'm doing you a favor."

Ginny sighed and huffed, a thing which meant she had given up. Harry moved his plate back to in front of him and ate his newly found bacon.

"You have way too many eggs, Potter," growled Ginny playfully as she took a spoon and started shoveling his eggs onto her plate.

"Whatever..." Harry caught a small glimpse of Ginny's face as the spell faded again for a split second. "Your spell isn't working, Gin."

Ginny blushed crimson, she was embarrassed to have been found out. Along with the fact that if anyone else noticed, it would be like a young girl's nightmare.

Harry saw her become embarrassed and could also tell she was suddenly very tense. He decided to drift off to a different, but close subject, "I didn't sleep very well, you?"

"Not really. It's more like the fact that I don't remember falling asleep. I only remember everything before we wrote to Tom. I just feel exhausted," explained Ginny,

"That's odd. So do I. Thought it was because maybe we thought too hard and studied last night..."

"Ugggh!" complained his friend as she got up, "I promised Colin I'd help him work on some Transfiguration homework. Can we continue this conversation later?" asked Ginny as she took one last bite of eggs. Harry nodded, and watched as she left to the Common Room in search of the fanatic young boy who was almost never seen without a camera.

o*o*o*o*o

"Where's Colin?" Ginny asked Luna at Charms. She had not found him after breakfast, and Transfiguration was coming up. If she could count on someone noticing something out of place, it was Luna. The girl herself was a bit out of place.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him all morning," her day-dreaming classmate replied.

"I want an essay done on all the uses of locking charms by Monday," said Flitwick. Half of the class groaned in reply to this, while the other half were snickering at one more grown-up use to this which also usually included a silencing charm and another, less talked about charm.... However, Ginny was more worried about where her fellow Gryffindor was.

Ginny found Harry at lunch as she took her usual seat next to him, "Do you know where Colin is?"

"I think he's in the Hospital Wing. I'm not sure though," replied Harry, "I tried to find you and tell you. I thought you might have already known though."

"Let's go there after we eat. I'm a bit worried about him," said Ginny. Harry nodded in agreement.

Once they had finished lunch they both went to the Hospital Wing. It was a quiet walk, where there seemed to be some type of tension in the air that her couldn't place. It wasn't Ginny or he, it was just there. The pressure was hanging there. Harry held the door open for her as they entered the welcoming atmosphere of the Hospital Wing.

Ginny's eyes focused quickly on the figure that seemed to lie frozen on a bed. He held and object and was a small boy. There was no doubt it was Colin looking through his camera.

"What happened to him?" Ginny said, horrified at the sight of Colin. The canine instinct that had come to her earlier was now back, prodding at her head to listen. It was like two parts of her brain were working against each other. Her instincts and personality, versus her better judgment and knowledge for know if things were actually possible or not.

"He's frozen or something..." Harry replied, his voice laced with equal shock and uncertainty that was going around in Ginny's head.

Ginny touched Colin's forehead, it was cold, but not in anyway frozen, "Not like that... more like petrified."

Harry stared. He touched the boy's forehead himself; it was cool and room temperature, not at all cold, "In Herbology... the Mandrakes... they can cure him," Harry managed to get out. His stomach had an odd twist in it, but he couldn't identify the feeling coming from the twist, "Let's go back to the Common Room. This is sort of freaking me out."

Ginny agreed and they walked away, not wanting to look back at Colin. She walked slowly, her feet dragging as they cut through to an empty corridor. The tension seemed heavier, "Something's happened."

"Something doesn't feel right about it though." Harry could identify the feeling now. He didn't know why, but it was there. It was the feeling of guilt.

o*o*o*o*o

_Today's been quite a day. __**Colin... it's just sickening.**_

_Who is Colin?_

_**Tom, what do you know about how people get petrified? **__We found our friend, Colin in the Hospital Wing; he was petrified. We're sure of it._

_Not much, but I think certain animals can do it._

_**Which animals?**_

Ginny did not dare to comment, in fear that maybe she had done something on accident. Werewolves couldn't do that thing, right?

_Not werewolves, don't worry about that._

She released a breath she did not know she was holding, and read the rest of Tom's reply.

_I think some dangerous ones can do it though. I don't know much. I suggest looking it up in the library._

_Thanks Tom. __**Time to go to the library.**_

Normally, Ginny and Harry would have left this type of situation to the grown-ups and people who knew what they were doing. However, the twisted feeling of guilt had pressed them into feeling like they should fix it.

o*o*o*o*o

The next week was frustrating for Harry. Hermione had gotten petrified. Despite Ginny and his efforts, they couldn't find any animals that had the ability to petrify anyone. It couldn't be that hard? And Tom had to be right. He was a sixteen year old who was extremely gifted and smart for his age. Also because he felt like Tom knew more than he was letting on.

It was hopeless until one evening when they came across the tiniest bit of information in an informational guide on Mandrakes.

"Ginny, I think I found something," Harry said as he looked her way.

Ginny got up and walked over to Harry, reading where his finger was on the page.

_Mandrakes were, at the point of the Great Basilisk Revolt (where Basilisk breeders had set their large and dangerous serpents free), one of the most important magical species of all time. The Mandrake can cure anyone who is petrified. Back in the Revolt, it was a common thing to be petrified because of the many who wore glasses._

_Generally uncommon and at one point thought to be extinct, the basilisk will kill you if you look it directly in the eyes. If one does not look it directly in the eyes but through a lens or in the reflection of it, then the victim will only be petrified. These cases are very rare because of the few who are lucky enough to be viewing its eyes through something else and for the few who do not get eaten afterward._

"But do you think a basilisk could actually be going _unseen_ throughout the school?" asked Ginny.

"To be honest, no, but it's the only explanation I can think of," said Harry. He took out the safe-kept diary from his bag.

_**We think there may be a basilisk in the school.**_

_Wouldn't something as big as a basilisk be seen?_

_**We thought of that, but it's the only thing we could think of. **__Time's moving fast... we don't want to waste our time and let more students get petrified – or worse!_

_You have a good point, but nothing really makes sense. If you think about the big picture, that is._

o*o*o*o*o

Everyday Ginny seemed even more tired. She didn't know why, and guessed maybe the library visits to figure out how Colin got petrified and how a basilisk was slithering around the school unnoticed had exhausted her. She also had blank spots in her memory, which the young Weasley wasn't sure about. Ginny considered talking to Harry about it, but whenever they would stop talking to Tom, it was time to go. Or when she asked Tom about it, he would productively move them onto a different topic that he stressed was of greater importance.

Ginny sat down on the grass with Harry next to her. The lake was in view and it seemed to be the perfect Saturday to be outside.

"It's a full moon tonight," she said quietly. Her senses were on full alert at times like these. Especially at this time of month.

"It'll be alright, you're strong, Gin," Harry replied, his voice kind.

"Let's write to Tom," Ginny suggested, not wanting to talk about the full moon.

o*o*o*o*o

"AHHH!!!"

Harry screamed in agony. It was like he had just woken up from a deep sleep. The difference was that Harry could see was that he was standing up. He was also outside. The first thing that came to his mind was to look up at the moon. It was full.

Where was Ginny?!

He had to get into Hogwarts. It was safe, and at this point Ginny was not going to be his body guard from the dangers that lurked. She currently _was_ one of the dangers. Harry stepped back, hoping he was quiet, when he heard a snarl come from behind him. He turned to look at what it was coming from, frightened.

Behind him were two large brown eyes, razor sharp teeth, and a figure that did not look at all like his best friend. Besides the eyes.

"G-Ginny?" Harry stuttered, starting to walk backwards in order to get away.

She growled, watching him. Her eyes were full of venom and her teeth were bared. The werewolf showed no signs of knowing he was her best friend.

----

_**A/N~**_

**_I left you hanging. How mean am I? Do remember to tell me how I did on this chapter and what you think may happen in the next chapter in a review._**

**_About Ginny's little blush - she doesn't have feelings for him. Any girl would be a bit embarrassed to be caught with bad make-up (or magic)._**

**_~gevauden_**


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